Today, I’ll be talking about the High Achiever's Thanksgiving because, let's be honest, as high achievers, we’re so driven that we often have work or business as our default or achieving as our default. Holidays, long weekends, unless we're out of the house and away, and even if we are away, it is hard for us not to work and achieve. I’m going to take you through five different pieces that I hope you can apply to your next holiday, whether it be your Thanksgiving, and if you’re like, “Oh, I'm in Canada and I missed it,” don’t worry, you can still apply it to your weekends, your times off, your holidays—meaning vacations—and every single holiday moving forward. Sound good? #1: Power of a Pause As a speaker, there's often a strong power in pausing for the audience to digest what you've just said. The same goes for high achievers; we need to pause before we dive into the next thing in our lives and businesses. Why is that? Well, we're always thinking about the next tasks. We finish one thing and jump into the next. But Thanksgiving and holidays are such perfect times to pause. Give yourself permission to step back, even if it's just for a moment—a day, or half a day—and breathe. For example, take an afternoon off: no work, no planning, and no listening to personal or professional development books. Enjoy a meal with loved ones. Usually, during Thanksgiving, we do that, but let yourself be fully present without the pressure of being productive. That includes not worrying about laundry, cleaning your house, or maybe raking leaves or whatever else you might be doing. Now, I know that for my weekend, two of the days were filled with my son's soccer tournament, and that was fine because we were still hanging out with family. I chose to spend time between games reading a book. This year, I decided I'm not making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner—like a turkey dinner—because it takes a long time. Instead, I picked up some Good Food meal kits, and I even got the ones that are pretty much prepped. All I have to do is throw it together! The onions were already cut, which I'm so excited about. I'm going to have my family help me prepare that for dinner. #2: Success is more than Hustle We hustle so much, and during the holidays, I want you to remember that success isn't just about working harder or achieving more; it's about enjoying the process of what we’re doing and building meaningful connections as you prepare for what’s next. You need to have that downtime. You need to avoid hustling all the time so you can build up your energy and emotional reserves before diving in again. You'll find that you have more clarity, intention, energy, and motivation to move forward. For example, take time during the holidays to recognize how balanced your life is—or isn't. Do you have an even distribution of family, work, and personal goals like home, health, spiritual life, friends, and all ten areas of life? If not, maybe the holiday is a good time to focus on how you can better integrate these aspects of your life before the year ends. We only have a few months left. #3: Nurture your relationships This is a wonderful time when no one expects you to be working, although I know that some of my American clients reached out to me today and this weekend. That's about boundaries, and it's all good! But during the holidays, shift your focus to the people who support and encourage you—not just your clients, fan base, or audience, but your family, friends, and maybe even your team. Give them more attention. As high achievers, we often get wrapped up in our goals, don’t we? We totally do! But relationships are just as valuable as any professional goal, milestone, or relationship. We need to nurture those things because, at the end of the day, we want to come home to a loved one or receive a text from someone. During this holiday, spend some quality, undistracted time with loved ones. I know I'm guilty right now of writing this blog, but I’m just about to jump on the couch with my family to watch the first movie in the Beetlejuice series because this weekend, we'll see the second one. They already know that this just has to get done first, and then they will have me. Maybe reach out to someone during the holiday who has helped you in the past year, month, or week. Perhaps it’s a colleague, mentor, or friend, and let them know how much you appreciate their support. This morning, I connected with a client of mine. We did talk about some professional things, and then she said, “In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm SO very grateful for all you do and are. Life before and after Diane and the VA Made Easy program. I appreciate you to the moon and back.” Super sweet, right? Let these people know how much you appreciate them. Even if it's not their Thanksgiving, you can still express your appreciation, whether it's a different holiday or while you're on vacation. Take that time to be grateful for and appreciate your loved ones. #4: Redefine Productivity This isn't an easy one for me because when I'm on holidays at home and I have this extra time, I think about what can be done around the house or what other jobs I can fit in. Or I might think about what other professional development books I can read because I have some many. If you're tempted to stay productive over the holidays, just remember that rest is part of the productivity cycle. You have to rest. I think of this in soccer: I can perform better on the field when I’ve had a sub, drink water, and sit for a moment. I also know that I can’t play soccer games day after day. I need those rest days to give my body time to adjust to the energy I just expelled and to recover from the hits I took—yes, there’s still some physical contact in my league! I know that in those rest days, I am able to do things that are lighter, maybe go for a walk and such and so the same is for your holiday time. Use this time to recharge and reflect because resting now will help you operate at your best moving forward. Usually, when we have holidays and long weekends, it's a short week, and we need to hit the ground running to pack five days' worth of work into four. You know how that goes! Instead of working through the holidays, I suggest that you engage in activities that bring you joy and actually schedule them in. Otherwise, you might be tempted to let work be your default and fall back into that habit. Read a book, meditate, or relax with your family. We’re also going to play some games, and watch a movie. I think the rain has stopped, so I might get out for a walk. But remember, rest is fuel for your future productivity! Remember high-achievers, if you want to perform better later, you need to rest now. #5: Gratitude in Action Since Thanksgiving is about giving thanks. It's a perfect opportunity to practice gratitude in action. Maybe you're someone who writes down five things that you're grateful for every day. This is part of the practice from my Dynamic Year Journal, but this might also be the time to put gratitude into action. If you reflect on what you’ve written in your gratitude journal, or what you pray about and are thankful for, or even what you’re grateful for at this moment, consider writing a note to that person. Maybe you can send them a thank-you card or just text them, as I mentioned earlier, expressing your appreciation for their support or for helping you in different ways. If you’re grateful for things like food, why not donate some food to the food bank? If you're grateful for your financial success, why not give financially to something? This gratitude and the action of it takes it from just a thought to an actual behavior and something you’re doing. This way, you’ll have the memory of giving or appreciating. Gratitude is super important, especially for us high achievers because it keeps you grounded. When you’re achieving a lot, it’s easy to get caught up in your ego. Gratitude reminds you that success isn't just about hitting goals. We need life balance; we need to acknowledge the other side of life. It’s also about recognizing the people who have helped you along the way and appreciating what we have in our lives. This weekend, I was a little bit ticked because I had to get up at 6:30am on Saturday morning for my son’s soccer tournament, which I thought, “Long weekend, and I can’t even sleep in.” Then I thought, “Check yourself, Diane. Check yourself because you have a house to sleep in where people just got hit in Florida with not one, but two hurricanes, and so you have a home that is safe, electricity, and clean drinking water.” I could go on and on and on and on, but being in North America and being where I am, I am currently safe from natural disasters, and I'm safe from gang violence and fearing for my life and political threats and all these different things that can come out. May I suggest that you take that gratitude that you have and write it as “Thank You” notes, record a voice message, so people actually hear your voice of how you've impacted their life, that's huge. You can also do some volunteering. You could donate to things close to your heart. But that's a key thing. Think about where you have the gratitude, and then put it into action. Wrapping Up I'll give you a run-through of them again.
Thank you so much for reading my blog. I would love it if you have some things that really stood out to you in this blog, then you reach out to me [email protected] and share this with a friend. Until next time, stay dynamic! Read my other blogs:
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